Dances, Theives, and Flowers
by SK Dark Dragon
Summary: -Completed- School is out on Friday's for Yugi and his friends, but Dance Class is in! How do they handle this new class?
1. Crossed Wires Chapter 1

Chapter One: Crossed Wires   
  
Yugi Motou jerked out of a trance in the middle of homeroom when the teacher smacked the ruler against the desk.  
  
"Starting this Friday," he announced to the class. "Due to a computer file problem that has occurred over the weekend..."  
  
Everyone turned to look at Joey Wheeler.   
  
"What?" Joey asked, sitting up straighter, realizing everyone's eyes were on him. "I didn't do it!"   
  
Yugi chuckled. Joey had a reputation for causing trouble.   
  
"As I was saying, the teachers need time to repair the problem without the students in the buildings, so Friday's this month will be teacher work days."   
  
The whole class cheered.   
  
"No school!" Joey cried standing up.   
  
"However," Their teacher continued. "To keep you busy on those long days off, you are all required to sign up for one of two extra-curricular activities: A course in "Exploring Physical Education", or a course in Swing Dancing."  
  
The class groaned, except for Tea who looked extremely pleased. Yugi knew Tea would sign up for dance, because she was planning to be a dancer when she grew up.   
  
"Now, after the bell rings, please come and sign up for the class you would like. Hurry, there's limited space available in each."   
  
Yugi slumped down in his desk.   
  
"Dance? Or PE?" he asked himself looking down at the Millennium Puzzle.   
"Perhaps dance,"   
  
Yami said appearing beside him. "That could be fun, and you might get a chance to dance with Tea."   
  
Yugi blushed.   
  
"Don't be ridiculous Yami, why would I want that?" Yugi muttered. "I'm too short to dance anyway."   
  
Yugi had just made up his mind to sign up for the "Exploring PE" class when the bell rang. A stampede of students ran forward to the two sheets of paper on the teacher's desk. They began scribbling on one sheet of paper, but the other sheet no one paid attention to.   
  
Yugi tried to fight his way through the crowd but it was useless. He was too weak to push his way past the others.   
  
"Tristan! Get off my foot!" Joey's voice came from inside the crowd.   
  
"Taylor! Wheeler! By my desk and wait until everyone else has gone!" The teacher called.   
  
"But..."   
  
"Now!"   
  
Joey and Tristan grumbled as they watched everyone else sign up, except for Yugi, Bakura, who seemed to be waiting for the crowd to die down, and Seto Kaiba, who hadn't even bothered to get up. He was reading in the back of the room.   
  
Tea happily signed her name to the dance sheet and walked away.   
  
"See you later, Yugi!" she called as she ran out the door and to her next class.  
  
Yugi, Bakura, Joey, and Triston approached the sign-up sheets and found that every single spot on the "Exploring Physical Education" had been taken.   
  
"Oh no!" Joey cried jumping backward from the sheets as though they were attacking him. "They expect boys to sign up for...for..."   
  
"Dance?" Bakura finished uncertainly.   
  
"Guess so," Yugi said signing his name under Tea's. (She was one of the only two people who signed up.)   
  
Bakura and Tristan added their names under Yugi's and Joey reluctantly added his.   
  
"Hey!" Joey called over to Kaiba, seizing an opportunity to make him angry. "Kaiba! Looks like you're stuck with taking Dance Class!"   
  
Kaiba walked to the front of the room and looked down at the two sheets. Then, he smiled at Joey.  
  
"I see you are too," he retorted.  
  
Then he turned to the teacher.  
  
"Are these courses required?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, they are,"   
  
Kaiba sighed and added his name under Joey's. Then he walked out of the room without saying a word.   
  
"Oh Yugi," The teacher said making a photo-copy of the list and then handing it to him. "Please call the people on the list the night before the class to make sure they're going to be coming."   
  
"Uh, okay," Yugi muttered shoving the list in his back pack and walking out the door.   
  
"You're welcome to bring friends or siblings!" The teacher called out as the remaining students left the room.   
  
"Yeah, right, like Serenity's going to want to dance," Joey muttered as he walked out of the room.   
******   
"I'd love to take a dance class!" Serenity cried when Joey told her the news later that evening. "I've always wanted to learn and now I can, with you and all your friends too!"   
  
Joey fell to the floor then got back up again.  
  
"You actually want to take this silly course?"   
  
Serenity nodded eagerly.   
  
"Oh yes, onicha!" she replied happily.   
  
Joey sighed.   
  
Across town at Kaibacorp, Kaiba was madly typing away on his latest Virtual Reality program when Mokuba walked in.   
  
"So what's this about no school on Friday?" Mokuba asked taking a seat on the couch.   
  
"Something about computer repairs. We have to take some Swing Dance class though," he added writing the last line of code and saving the program.   
  
"Cool," Mokuba said. "Maybe you'll have fun."   
  
Kaiba smiled.   
  
"Learning dance? I have a company to be running and I'm taking a dance course," he said sarcastically. "How ridiculous."  
  
As night fell, Yugi walked up to his bedroom at the top of the Game Shop and lay out on his bed.   
  
"I'm tired," he murmured but noticed the list sticking out of his bag.  
  
"Oh yeah," he said picking it up and staring at it. "It IS Thursday, and I did promise the teacher I'd make sure everyone would be coming. I guess I'd better do that."   
  
"Ah," Yami replied from the dresser where he was perched, watching Yugi.  
  
After collected the phone book, Yugi picked up the phone on his desk and dialed Joey's phone number.   
  
"Hello?" A girl's voice came from the other line.   
  
"Serenity?" Yugi asked.   
  
"Yes, would you like to speak to my brother?" she asked.   
  
"Mm," Yugi said in reply.   
  
Serenity put down the phone.   
  
"Joey! Joey? JOEY!" Yugi heard her yell.   
  
"Onicha? Where are you..." Her voice grew faint as she walked away from the phone.   
  
Yugi sighed.   
  
"This could take a while," he muttered.  
  
Suddenly, he heard a strange scratching sound on the other line.  
  
"And....*fuzz* pepperoni fuzz ...hold the..."  
  
"Hello?" he called into the receiver.   
  
"Hey Yug," Joey's voice came from the other line. "Sorry 'bout the wait. What'd you need?"  
  
"Hey Joey," Yugi sighed. "I need to know if you're going to come to the dance class tomorrow."   
  
"Sure am," Joey replied. "And Serenity too."   
  
"That's cool..." Yugi started but was cut off.   
  
There was an odd click through the receiver and suddenly, a women's voice began talking.   
  
"...and I'd like a small pizza with..."   
  
"Pizza? You're ordering pizza?" Joey cried.   
  
"...extra cheese and a two liter of soda. Do you understand?"  
  
"Yes ma'am," Came a man's voice. "One small pizza, a two liter, and anything else?"   
  
"A large deep-dish with extra sausage!" Joey said drooling.  
  
"I'm a vegetarian!" The lady cried shrilly, outraged. "I only want a small pizza with..."   
  
"THE WORKS!" Joey cried happily.  
  
"Joey, hang up the phone!" Yugi cried beginning to get nervous.  
  
"Who is on this line?" The lady demanded.  
  
"So one deep-dish with extra sausage, one small w/ extra cheese, and a small with the works?"   
  
"NO!"   
  
Yugi hung up.  
  
"I hope Joey hung up. I shudder to think what that lady'd do to me if she could trace my call." Yugi sighed with a gulp.   
  
Yugi dialed Tea's number and tapped his fingers on the desk as the phone rang.  
  
"Kaiba," Came the sharp voice from the other end.  
  
"Kaiba?" Yugi asked checking the number he dialed.  
  
"Who is this?"   
  
"Yugi Motou," Yugi said scratching his head, puzzled. "I need to know if you'll be at dance tomorrow."   
  
A sigh came through the receiver.   
  
"Yes, if this ridiculous class is absolutely necessary."   
  
"Okay then," Yugi said cheerily. "Bye."   
  
"Hello?"   
  
"Kaiba?" Yugi asked putting the receiver close to his ear.   
  
"Hello? Is this Yuey?" A scratching voice came through.  
  
"What is this?" Kaiba asked.   
  
"This is Yugi," Yugi said shakily. "You can hang up Kaiba."  
  
"No! Don't hang up!" The voice called. "I need you!"  
  
"Well I certainly DON'T need you clogging up my phone line," Kaiba replied.  
  
There was a click on the other line.   
  
"Yuey, I need you services right away," The man said in a rush. "It's terrible! My house, it's flooding!"   
  
"And...my services will help that?" Yugi asked weakly.  
  
He caught a glimpse of Yami who had both eyebrows raised in astonishment.  
  
"This is Yuey's Plumbing?" he cried hysterically.  
  
A slosh of water was heard in the background.  
  
"No, this is the Game Shop!" Yugi called over the roar of water.   
  
"Oh no! The pipe broke! I need a plumber! I need a plumber! I nee..."  
  
Suddenly, a gurgling sound came through the receiver and the noise of rushing water. Then, the phone went dead.   
  
Yugi hung up the phone, his hand shaking.   
He wiped his forehead.   
  
"I don't even want to think about that," he said with a sigh.   
  
"Next on the list is...Tea...oh yeah! I already tried her and got Kaiba. Well, I'll try Bakura first."  
  
Yugi turned to the phone and carefully picked it up. He heard rushing water through the receiver.   
  
Yugi slammed the phone down again.   
  
"Okay," he said with a deep breath and picked up the phone one more time.  
No water could be heard. Just the dial tone.  
  
Yugi sighed with relief.  
  
"Okay then, next on my list was Bakura," he said scanning his finger down the list of names.  
  
After looking up the correct phone number, he dialed it in and waiting nervously as the phone rang. By the time the other end picked up, Yugi was biting his finger nails nervously.  
  
"Hello?" Came a small voice on the other end.  
  
"Ryo Bakura?" Yugi asked with a sigh of relief.  
  
"Um...yes....who is this?" Came the voice on the other line.  
  
"Yugi, remember?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Well, yes, but what do you need?"  
  
"Are you going to be at Dance Class tomorrow?"   
  
"Uh...yeah. Why wouldn't I?" Bakura asked.  
  
"Well, it's just my job. Call everyone who signed up and make sure they'll be there."  
  
"Well, I'm going to be there, so I guess that finishes your job," Bakura said.  
  
"Hello?" Came a girl's voice.  
  
"Uh...hello?" Bakura replied stunned.  
  
"Oh hi! I've been trying you for hours! But you never answer your phone! Are you trying to avoid me?"  
  
"No, but I can see why I would," Bakura choked out.  
  
"Oh no," Yugi muttered and hung up.  
  
"Well, I just wanted to talk to you! Can't you just hear me out? I think that we would make a very cute couple..."  
  
"Couple?" Bakura cried.  
  
"...yes and I think that we ought to get together sometime..."  
  
"I...I...I don't even know who you are!" Bakura cried.  
  
"What? It's me silly! This is Tyler right?"  
  
"No, this is Ry...." Bakura started but thought better of it.  
  
"I better not give her my name or she'll come after me next!" he thought.  
  
"This is....Joey Wheeler," he lied.  
  
"Sorry Joey," he thought to himself.  
  
"Oh, well nev-er-mind!" she cried and hung up the phone.  
  
"Whew!" Bakura sighed hanging up the phone. "I hope Joey won't be too angry when she starts calling him up."  
  
Back at Yugi's house, he was staring at the phone in disbelief.  
  
"What is this? Crossed lines or something?" Yugi muttered. "I don't want to think about what they girl might have said to Bakura."  
  
After another half hour of criss-crossed calls, including a very unpleasant one between Triston and Yugi and a women who would simply not hang up on her boyfriend, Yugi had finally completed the list.  
  
"Oh," Yugi sighed lying flat on his bed with Yami watching from the dresser. "I'd rather Shadow Duel than face that again."  
  
"You might change your mind upon remembering your last experience in Shadow Duels," Yami replied.  
  
"Well," Yugi said remembering. "Yeah, you're probably right."  
  
He rolled over and pulled the covers up over his head.  
  
"At least now I can get some sleep for tomorrow," Yugi muttered sleepily and within a few minutes, was fast asleep... 


	2. One Step For Disaster Chapter 2

Chapter 2: One Step for Disaster  
  
The next morning, Yugi's alarm clock went off at 9:00. Sleepily, he rolled over and hit the snooze button with his fist.  
  
"Have you forgotten already?" Yami asked looking down at Yugi. "Your Dance Class."  
  
"Oh..." Yugi moaned getting out of bed. "I remember now..."  
  
At the same time, across town at Kaiba's house, Kaiba was already up and typing away on his computer when a little buzzer on his desk went off.  
  
He jammed the button down and saved his file.  
  
"Well," he sighed. "I suppose that will have to wait until later."  
  
Joey and Serenity, however, were not as efficient. Serenity was munching on a piece of toast glazed with strawberry jam as she tapped on her brother's door.  
  
"Joey," she cried. "It's past nine! Don't you think you should wake up soon?"  
  
There was only a vague snore from inside.  
  
"Onicha!" she called rapping loudly on the door.  
  
Then she sighed.  
  
Half an hour later, Yugi's Grandpa dropped him off in front of the parking lot downtown. He could already see Tea waiting with Duke in the lot. He walked over to his friends.  
  
"Hey guys," Yugi said waving.  
  
"Hey there Yugi!" Tea called as he approached.  
  
"Hey Yugi," Duke said. "By the way, what was up with the Science Professor on the phone last night?"  
  
Yugi sighed.  
  
"Don't ask," Yugi muttered with an embarrassed grin.  
  
A couple minutes later, a motor-bike pulled up carrying Triston and a very frightened looking Bakura.   
  
"Hey guys," Triston said, trying to pull Bakura's arms off from around his waist. "We're there, Bakura, there's nothing to worry about!"  
  
Bakura shakily got off the cycle and staggered away from it.  
  
"No offense, mate," he whispered. "But I really don't care for riding your motorcycle."  
  
"No offense taken," Triston said, then lowered his voice and added, "My waist still hurts from your grip."  
  
Tea chuckled.  
  
"Hey!" Yugi cried. "Look! It's Mai, Joey, and Serenity!"  
  
It was true, because at that moment, Mai's blue convertible pulled up into a parking space with Mai, Joey and Serenity as it's passengers.   
  
"Thank you, Mai," Serenity said getting out.  
  
"No problem, hun," Mai said getting out as well. "Besides, this Dance Class   
might be worth while."  
  
"Please tell me you don't mean that," Joey muttered in disbelief as he hopped out of the car as well and slammed the door shut.  
  
Mai nudged him playfully.  
  
"Come on, Joey! Just because you don't want to dance with anyone doesn't mean I don't!" she said and without another word, started to walk toward the door to the Dance Building.  
  
"Mai really knows what she wants to do," Serenity observed. "How cool!"  
  
And she followed after her.  
  
"Serenity!" Joey cried and ran after them.  
  
"Serenity!" Duke and Triston cried and hurried after Joey.  
  
"Those boys," Tea sighed. "Should we go in?" She asked Yugi and Bakura.  
  
"Mm," Yugi said with a nod and the three headed for the building.  
  
Inside the building, the group approached a set of stairs. After climbing to the next floor, the looked around.  
  
"There's no more stairs!" Duke cried looking around.  
  
"Surely there's some way up," Mai said peering around a corner to see another art room with children gluing petals on a paper flower.  
  
"Or do they expect up to climb?" Triston asked looking up through the opening in the center of the floors.  
  
"Oh no!" Bakura cried.  
  
"Wait guys," Yugi called holding a door open. "There's a stair-well in here!"  
  
After climbing what seemed to be an endless amount of stairs, the exhausted gang finally reached the correct floor.  
  
They entered Room 103 to see Kaiba, leaning against the ballet bars looking quite displeased, and Ishizu Ishtar talking to the dance instructor.   
  
"Isn't that Miss Ishizu, from the Egyptian Museum?" Tea muttered to Yugi.  
  
"Maybe she's taking the course as well," he replied.  
  
"I don't care if she's here," Triston thought to himself. "I just want to dance with Serenity."  
  
"I want to dance with someone who won't get mad if I mess up," Bakura thought nervously.  
  
"I want to dance with Mai," Joey thought.  
  
"I'd kind of like to dance with Joey," Mai thought.  
  
"I can't wait for it to start!" Serenity said excitedly.  
  
"I want to dance with Serenity," Duke thought.  
  
"I want to dance with Tea," Yugi thought. "But I'm probably to short for her."  
He sighed.  
  
"I don't want to dance at all," Kaiba thought to himself. "There's so much to do at Kaibacorp. What's the point in wasting time here?"  
  
Ishizu looked around at the crowd.  
  
"And I have something important to tell the Pharaoh..." she thought.  
  
"All right class," The instructor said cheerfully as everyone gathered in the back of the room.   
"I'd like everyone to pay close attention during the first half of the class to the steps we will be using in the dances. Then, we can have some real fun and dance with partners."  
  
"I wonder if we get to choose our partners," Tristan wondered.  
  
For the first half hour, the class was mainly learning the steps for Cha Cha. Tea, of course, had already learned that particular dance and was able to do nearly all the figures perfectly. After repeating figure three 5 times because neither Joey or Bakura could ever get the hang of putting their hands up to prepare for turning the girl under.  
  
Finally, the teacher cleared her throat and announced everyone should find a partner to dance with.  
  
"Don't worry, we'll be switching around," she told them.  
  
No one except for Duke and Triston moved. (Both of them were trying to get to Serenity.)  
  
"Whoa, whoa, there fellows!" The instructor said patting both of them on their shoulders. "I've got a better idea for this. I'll assign you all partners and we'll go down the line every few minutes."  
  
"Drat," Triston muttered walking back toward Yugi.  
  
"Okay, Miss Ishtar will dance with Mr. Motou," she said glancing down at the sign-up sheet for their names.   
  
"Yami, you take over," Yugi said letting him out. "I'm too short for Ishizu."  
  
"Fine, fine," Yami said walking over to Ishizu.  
  
"Hello, Pharaoh," Ishizu said softly.  
  
"Um, hello," Yami replied.  
  
"Joey Wheeler, you dance with your sister," The instructor called out and Serenity and Joey took their place in the line next to Yami and Ishizu.  
  
"Miss Valentine and Mr. Kaiba can be together, then Tea Gardner and Mr. Taylor,"   
she added.  
  
Kaiba reluctantly walked up to Mai and Tea took her place with Tristan.  
  
"And let's see here," she added. "We're a few girls shy, so I'll be dancing with Mr.....Ryou Bakura, is it?"  
  
Bakura nodded sadly.  
  
"The teacher will know when I make a mistake for sure," he thought to himself, but walked over to her all the same.  
  
"What about me?" Duke asked waving his hand around in the air.  
  
"You....you can dance with Georgette," The instructor replied.  
  
"Who?"   
  
"It's the invisible partner for the guys when there's no extra girls to dance with," she replied with a wink. "Make sure she behaves herself; she can get a little wild."  
  
Duke stood next to Bakura and the teacher, facing no one.  
  
"This is ridiculous," he muttered. "But at least "Georgette" can't mess up."  
  
"All ready?" The instructor asked turning on the music. "Dance!"  
  
Everyone seemed to be dancing at different speeds. The teacher was pretty much just domineering the dance with Bakura and Joey and Serenity seemed to be doing the figures out of order. Yami had to struggle to keep up with Ishizu who seemed to know everything almost as well as the teacher did.  
  
Tea kept hissing at Tristan whenever he made an error.  
  
"Right foot, Tristan!" she snapped when he smashed her dance shoes with his left   
foot.   
  
"Sorry, Tea," he retorted. "I'm not an expert at this like you."  
  
Kaiba and Mai were about the most silent partners. Kaiba tried to avoid Mai's eyes and instead focused on finishing the dance as quickly as possible. Mai, on the other hand, was more interested in Joey's dance than her own.  
  
"You need to keep moving," Kaiba hissed at her when she had stopped in the middle of figure four.   
  
"Sorry," she whispered, turning away from Joey and Serenity and continuing the dance.  
  
Duke seemed to be the only one having a good time. He was doing all sorts of steps that had never been shown, (and Yami had a suspicion that they were made up) and was rocking away with "Georgette", his dice earring flapping around like wild.  
  
""Georgette" isn't such a bad partner after all!" he said happily to Bakura who seemed to be having trouble with the last figure.  
  
"Good for you, mate," he choked out as he tripped over the teacher's shoe.  
  
"Pharaoh," Ishizu said softly to Yami as they continued dancing. "I need to warn you about something."  
  
"What?" Yami asked, curious, as Ishizu steered him away from Joey and Serenity.  
  
A few seconds later, Joey and Serenity tried to both walk forward at once and ended up crashing into each other and falling right where Yami and Ishizu had been seconds before.  
  
"My Millennium Item has sensed that you are in danger," she replied calmly, stepping back a few seconds before Yami tripped over his own shoe and stumbled forward. "You need to be cautious."  
  
"What sort of danger?" Yami asked, regaining his footing and following Ishizu into the next step.  
  
"Just be on your guard," Ishizu advised as the song ended and the instructor called, "Boys move down one partner to the left!"  
  
So Yami moved down to dance with Serenity, whose cheeks were pink from her dance with Joey, Joey moved down to dance with, to his delight, Mai, Kaiba reluctantly moved down toward Tea, Triston to the teacher, and to Bakura's immense relief, he moved down to "Georgette."  
  
Duke walked over, most disappointedly, to Ishizu.  
  
"I was starting to like "Georgette", he thought to himself.  
  
After another song, the instructor called for one last change of partners. Yami was now paired with Mai, Joey with Tea, Kaiba with the instructor, Triston with Georgette, Bakura, to his horror, Ishizu, and Duke most cheerfully moved down with Serenity.  
  
Tristan scowled at Duke, as Duke began dancing with Serenity, who looked like she was enjoying herself. Kaiba and the instructor stayed on time, Triston simply stared angrily at Duke, ignoring "Georgette", Ishizu stepped back every few moments as she predicted Bakura's slip-ups ahead of time, and Joey was having a horrible time with Tea, who corrected his every move.  
  
"Joey!" she said coming to a complete stop. "Either do the right foot or don't do it at all!"  
  
"How about do the left foot?" Joey joked but stopped laughing when he saw Tea's expression of anger.  
  
Finally, the bell rang and everyone, exhausted, but pleased, walked out of the room.   
  
"Be on your guard, my Pharaoh," Ishizu warned once more before disappearing around a corner.  
  
Kaiba walked away to the elevator and Yami let Yugi take over again.  
  
"Well, that was fun!" Mai said clapping her hands together happily.   
  
"It would have been more fun if I didn't get stuck with partners like Joey and   
  
Tristan, who didn't pay attention to how figure four was supposed to be done," Tea snapped, glaring at the two boys.  
  
"Come on, Tea," Tristan said in his defense. "We've only been doing this for one day!"  
  
"Well," she said haughtily, folding her arms and turning away. "Hopefully you'll improve by the time this class ends."  
  
"Don't count on it," Duke muttered looking at Tristan.  
  
"Hey! I have an idea," Mai said looking at the group. "Let's all go to that new pizza parlor around the block and have a little fun on your day off?"  
  
"Sounds like a winner to me!" Joey said drooling. "I've been wanting pizza for some reason ever since Yugi called last night."  
  
Yugi grinned.  
  
"Yeah, let's go," he added.  
  
"But we all won't fit in Mai's car," Serenity pointed out.  
  
"That's ok," Mai said pointing to Tristan. "He can take Bakura with him on his motorcycle."  
  
"No! Please! Have Joey go with him!" Bakura cried.  
  
"No, I'll take Duke with me," Tristan said grinning at Duke.  
  
"You're not going to be around Serenity without me around," Tristan thought with an evil grin as he dragged Duke away.  
  
"Meet you there!" Yugi called. 


	3. Flowers, Pizza, and Duel Monsters, Oh my...

Chapter Three: Pizza, Flowers, and Duel Monsters; Oh My!  
  
A few minutes later, Mai's blue convertible pulled into the parking lot of the Pizza Parlor, and they were shortly joined by Triston and Duke on the   
motorcycle.   
  
"Duke was a much better riding partner than Bakura," Triston thought happily as he hopped off his bike. "Even IF I only dragged him along to keep him away from Serenity."  
  
"Let's go in, before all the good seats are taken," Mai suggested pointing to the door. "It's around lunch time and you're not the only kids out of school."  
  
"Mm," Yugi agreed and the gang followed Mai into the parlor.   
  
Mai walked up to the counter and banged twice on it.  
  
"Yes?" A young man said walking out from the back room. "Oh, Mai!"  
  
"Hey, Juan," Mai said quickly. "Table with enough chairs for the eight of us."  
  
"All right, no problem, Mai," Juan said winking at Mai and pulling out a stack of menus.  
  
Joey felt his face start to burn.  
  
"Why is HE winking at Mai?" he thought angrily.  
  
Mai accepted the stack of menus and followed Juan to a large table near the back of the resturaunt.   
  
"I hope this spot will be suitable for you and your little friends," Juan said.  
  
"Thanks Juan," Mai said sitting down and propping a menu up on the table.  
  
Joey hurriedly took a seat next to Mai and Serenity while Duke and Triston   
fought over the chair on Serenity's other side.  
  
Yugi and Tea sat down on the other end of the table with Bakura.   
Yugi scanned the menu while Tea admired the vase of tulips on the table.  
  
"I wonder what Ishizu meant when she was talking about danger," Yami asked, appearing next to Yugi.  
  
"I don't know," Yugi answered. "But we'd better be on our guard, just in case she knows what she's talking about."  
  
"Ah," Yami answered.  
  
"Okay? Does everyone know what they want?" Mai asked looking up at everyone.  
  
"Yeah, a large pizza with everything," Joey said. "And an order of garlic sticks, and some chicken wings, and..."  
  
"One small personal pan pizza," Mai whispered to the waitress.  
  
"...and don't forget the garlic sauce." Joey finished.  
  
"And just two regular large pizzas with pepperoni for the rest of us," Mai said as the waitress took note of everything.  
  
"Is that okay with everyone?" Mai asked.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Yugi replied.  
  
Tea and Duke nodded.  
  
"Sounds fine to me," Triston said.  
  
"Yeah," Serenity agreed.  
  
Bakura sneezed.  
  
"It'll be ready in a while," The waitress said leaving.  
  
"Don't those flowers smell great?" Serenity asked.  
  
"Yeah," Tea said sniffing in the scent. "Don't you think Bakura?"  
  
Bakura sneezed again.  
  
"Bakura?" Tea asked looking at him. "What's wrong?"  
  
"The...*achoo*...it's the...*achoo*...flow...flow...*achoo*...flowers," he stammered over sneezes.  
  
"You don't like them?" Tea asked.  
  
"No...*achoo*...I'm...*achoo* allergic...*achoo*"  
  
He backed away from the table.  
  
"What's up?" Joey asked looking up from his conversation with Serenity.  
  
"You're allergic to flowers, Bakura?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Well...pollen at least," Bakura replied, still eyeing the vase on the table with his watering eyes.  
  
"Oh, well we'll just get rid of these then," Joey said picking the vase up off the table and walking up to the front counter.   
  
"Hey!" he yelled shaking his fist at the waitress. "My friend here happens to be very allergic to your disgusting flowers!"  
  
He slammed the vase down on the counter.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," she cried putting the flowers under the counter. "We had no idea. Next time you should say so right away."  
  
"Maybe we ought to put up a flowers or no flowers sign along with our smoking or   
non-smoking."  
  
Joey stomped back to the table.   
  
"Well, there you go, Bakura," he said sitting down casually in his seat. "You can come back to the table again."  
  
Bakura sniffed.  
  
"Well, okay, thanks," he said sitting back down next to Yugi.  
  
A few minutes later, Juan returned with their orders and every started digging in.  
  
"Careful, Joey, make sure there's some for the rest of us!" Mai called as Joey   
took four slices.  
  
Joey said something through a full mouth that no one could quite understand. Mai   
sighed and turned back to her plate.  
  
"You know what," she said slowly. "I think I'm going to have a little....party at my place tonight. You know, we can practice our dance steps and enjoy ourselves at the same time."  
  
Tea opened her mouth to argue with the fact that dancing class was SUPPOSED to be just that, but Duke cut in.  
  
"Yeah, sure!" he said happily. "You'll come, won't you Serenity?"   
  
Serenity nodded eagerly.  
  
"Oh yes, right brother? she asked Joey.  
  
Joey nodded but didn't say anything. (He was too busy chewing)  
  
"Okay then, bring a CD and your duel deck to my place and we'll have a ball!" Mai said cheerfully.  
  
"Okay," Bakura agreed.   
"Yeah," Yugi said. "Sounds like fun."  
  
"And maybe this time you can dance with..." Yami started but Yugi cut him off.  
  
"Thanks Yami," he said quickly.  
  
"Our duel deck?" Joey asked, finally swallowing. "What for?"  
  
"You want to duel, right?" Mai asked curiously.  
  
"Oh, yeah, sure," Joey replied quickly pulling his deck out of his pocket. "My   
deck is all ready for clobbering hot shot duelists!"  
  
He quickly thumbed through his cards and pulled out Jinzo.   
  
"I've got wonderful cards," he boasted.  
  
"Mmmm, we'll see now won't we," Mai chuckled.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Joey roared standing up quickly.  
  
But at that very moment, the waitress was walking behind him holding a large pitcher of iced-tea. The result was that he smashed into her and her pitcher fell to the ground. So did, unfourtunately, Joey's cards.  
  
"Oh no!" Joey screamed looking at the mess.  
  
"No, it's no big deal," The waitress replied, picking up ice cubes. "I'll clean it up, no problem."  
  
"Not your tea!" he snapped. "My cards!"   
  
He mournfully looked down at them as the lay in the puddles of tea on the floor. Yugi and Bakura helped him gather up the wet cards and lay them out on the table.  
  
"My deck, my deck!" Joey moaned. "It'll never be the same again!"  
  
"Don't say that, Joey," Yugi said smoothing out the Legendary Fisherman. "Only a   
few are wet. Just press them in a big book and let them dry. They'll be very crisp then, and flat too."  
  
"Okay," Joey said looking at his prized cards.  
  
After leaving the Pizza Parlor, Joey still holding his sodden cards, everyone piled back into Mai's car to be driven home again.  
  
"Don't forget!" Mai called to Yugi as he waved good-bye when they reached The   
Game Shop. "Be at my place tonight at 8:00!"  
  
"Got it!" Yugi called and hurried into the house. 


	4. Snatch and Steal! The evil spirit Return...

Chapter Four: Snatch and Steal: The Evil Spirit Returns.  
Later that evening, everyone was preparing for Mai's party except, of course, Kaiba, who hadn't been invited. He, however, was none the less busily working on his newest program.  
Yugi and Yami spent half an hour arguing over which outfit would look the most appropriate for the occasion, Serenity leafed through a pile of CD's as Joey pressed his cards into a large, (and quite unused) English book.  
Triston and Duke, of course, wanted to be sure to be early, so to get a dance with Serenity, and Tea practiced her dance steps.  
Bakura spent the afternoon reading and when he clock read 6:15, he got up.  
"Might as well get ready for Mai's party," he said walking over to the closet and looking around for his sweater.  
Behind him, his dresser drawer suddenly shook oddly. The handles rattled and it suddenly flew open. Bakura whirled around and looked in horror as his drawer's contents spilled themselves out onto the floor. Sweaters, pants, and pairs of socks flew out and heaped themselves in a pile.  
But this wasn't as frightening as what came out of the drawer last. Lifting itself up and dangling in the air was the Millennium Ring.   
"Oh...no..." Bakura cried shakily backing away from it as it drew ever closer to him, but he knew he couldn't escape it.  
"Bye Grandpa!" Yugi called as he walked out of the Game Shop later that evening. "We'd better hurry," he added to Yami. "The party starts in less than 15 minutes!"  
Running swiftly down the street, he turned a corner and began to run down a dark alley. Suddenly, a maniac laugh echoed through the alley, causing Yugi to come to a halt.  
"Who...who's there?" he demanded, in a fake confident voice.  
"Partner, let me take over," Yami said taking control of the body. "All right, who's out there?"  
"You'll know soon enough!" Came a voice that Yami couldn't recognize.   
It was disguised.  
"What do you mean?" Yami asked impatiently looking around the dark alley for a sign of the mysterious voice.  
Suddenly, the whole alley became, if it was possible, darker than ever, and the area around them became misty purple.  
"The Shadow Realm!" Yami cried looking around.  
Then he faced straight forward with confidence.   
"Are you luring me into a duel?" he snapped.  
The same maniac laugh echoed through the vast Shadow Space.  
"Took you long enough," Came the voice through the darkness. "Yes. Now arm yourself and be prepared, this thieving deck will rob you blind!"  
"Thief?" Yami asked himself as he started up his duel disk and drew his opening hand.  
Over at Kaibacorp, a small red light began flashing on Kaiba's computer screen. He rolled the cursor over to it and clicked.  
"Hmm, another duel active?" he wondered as he typed in a password to check which duelist was dueling. "Yugi? What would be be dueling for in the middle of the night for? And in an alley?"  
He flicked off the computer and stood up.   
"Maybe I should go check this out," he muttered walking towards the front door.  
"Nisama! Where are you going?" Mokuba asked coming downstairs.   
"Just going to check on a duel," Kaiba said picking up his own duel disk.  
"Um, okay," Mokuba replied. "Can I come with you?"  
"This duel doesn't sound so safe," he said, but noticed the disappointed look in his brother's eyes. "All right then," he said changing his mind.  
"Yes!" Mokuba said hopping over the last two stairs and skidding over to the door.  
Back at the duel, Yami stared into the darkness, trying to find the outline of the "thief" who had challenged him.  
"I'll go first," Came the same disguised voice. "One monster card, in defense mode, and then I'll set one of my cards face down. End of this turn!"  
Two holographic cards appeared a few feet away from Yami.  
"My turn," Yami announced, and picked his card.   
It was Beta, the Magnet Warrior. (1700/1600)  
"Yami," Yugi said appearing beside him in spirit form. "We should try to defeat this person as soon as possible, otherwise the others will get worried about us, and we'll miss Mai's party."  
"Ah," Yami said placing a card on the field. "Beta, in attack mode!" he announced.  
"Attack his defense monster!"   
Beta lunged forward and hit the face down card, which appeared as he launched his attack. It was the Cyber Jar.  
"No!" Yami cried as Cyber Jar used it's effect and destroyed all the monsters on the field.  
"Now we each draw five new cards and summon any four stared or lower monsters to the field!" The disguised voice called out. "I summon Red-Moon Baby in attack mode." (700/1000)  
"I play Gazell, the King of Mythic Beasts (1500/1200) in attack mode and Celtic Guardian (1400/1200) in defense mode," Yami said, then stopped to analyze the strategy of his opponent.  
"Red-Moon Baby," he muttered staring at the odd creature's deep blue gaze. "It's a weak creature, so it must have an effect. I end my turn!" he said aloud.  
"Good," Snapped the voice. "I now active my face-down card, Axe of Despair, and put it on Red-Moon Baby!"  
A large axe appeared next to the zombie and it's attack power raised to 1700.  
"What?" Yami cried.  
"Axe of Despair increases the selected monster's attack power by 1000," The voice called, and there was a glint of gold in the shadows.  
"A millennium item?" Yami wondered. "Is that how he took me to the Shadow Realm?"  
"Now, Red-Moon, attack Gazell!"  
The zombie baby lunged forward and destroyed Gazell with one chop of the Axe of Despair.  
Yami's life points dropped to 3800.  
"I play one card face down and end my turn," The voice called.  
Suddenly, something started to appear on the unknown duelist's field.   
"It's...it's...Gazell!" Yami cried as his own monster appeared in attack mode on the other player's field. "But why?"  
The was a terrible laugh that echoed through the alley.  
"Red-Moon Baby's special ability is that any monster destroyed by it will be summoned to MY field at the end of the turn, and remain MY monster until it is destroyed," The voice cackled. "So now anything I destroy with my creature will become mine!!!!"  
"Oh no!" Yami gasped. "His deck must be full of things to power up the Red-Moon Baby, so it'll get stronger and stronger every turn!"  
"This isn't good," Yugi told Yami. "His number of monsters will double every turn if we don't get rid of the Red-Moon Baby."  
"Ah," Yami replied picking his card.  
"Red-Moon's attack power is only 1700," he thought. "That's not too high. I can sacrifice the weaker Celtic Guardian and summon a more powerful monster to destroy it. But....what about his set card?"  
Yami gazed forward at the face-down card looming in the darkness behind the Red-Moon Baby and Gazell.  
"It might be a trap, but then again, it might just be for security," he thought. "If I don't do anything, I'll be defeated anyway, so I'll take the risk!"  
"I sacrifice the Celtic Guardian for the Dark Magician Girl!" Yami said moving the Celtic Guardian to the graveyard and putting the Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700) to the field.  
"I've seen that girl in action before," The voice thought. "Yugi always depends on his Dark Magician's to win him the duel. But I've prepared something that will stop those magicians in their tracks!"  
"Dark magician Girl! Dark Magic Attack!" Yami ordered.  
"Activate magic card!" The voice cried and the card flipped up.  
"Oh no!" Yami cried.  
"Rush Recklessly, Red-Moon!"   
The Red-Moon Baby flew forward and used it's Axe to cut the DMG down. Yami's life points dropped further to 3400.  
"But how?" Yami asked.  
The same maniac laugh cackled again.  
"Rush Recklessly is a quick-play magic card that increases the attack power of any monster by 700, raising Red-Moon Baby to 2400, much higher than the wimpy Magician Girl," The odd voice said gleefully.  
"Oh no!" Yami cried again. "Dark Magician Girl was destroyed by Red-Moon Baby, meaning at the end of my turn..."  
"Dark Magician Girl will become MINE!"  
Meanwhile, everyone but Yugi and Bakura had arrived at Mai's house for the party. Joey and Mai were talking by the kitchen sink as Mai was washing out a punch bowl and Duke and Triston kept trying to get Tea away from Serenity, both of whom were in lively conversation with each other.  
"I wonder where Yugi has gotten too," Mai muttered looking out the window. "He did say he'd be here, right?"   
"Yeah," Joey agreed. "It's not like Yugi to miss anything like this."  
"And what about that other friend of yours, Bakura?" Mai asked.  
"Aw, I don't know," Joey said with a wave of his hand. "Bakura's probably always late. I'll bet he got lost on the way here."  
"Joey!" Mai said angrily. "I don't think your friend would appreciate you talking that way behind his back."  
"Whatever," Joey said, then turned quickly toward the sound of a crash in the living room.  
Mai and Joey hurried out to see what had happened. Duke and Triston had managed to trip over one of Mai's stereo speakers and had crashed headlong into her magazine bin. Magazines were everywhere and the more Duke and Triston attempted to get up, the more the wrecked what was left of the magazines.  
"Bakas!" Mai shrieked. "You're ruining my collection!"  
"Sorry?" Duke offered timidly as he managed to get out of the slippery magazine mess.  
Mai looked like she was about to explode.  
"I'll go finish scrubbing that punch bowl," Joey said quickly and ran out into the other room as Mai started screaming at Duke and Triston.  
Kaiba and Mokuba walked down the darkening streets with Mokuba's lap-top tracking the duel signals.   
"Okay, they look like they're just beyond this corner," Mokuba said turning down the alley and running into the purple fog of the Shadow Realm.  
"What's this?" he asked putting his arm out to test it.  
"Hmmm, I think I've seen something like this back on the Battle Ship, when that girl dueled Malik," Kaiba thought to himself. "Yugi called it the Shadow Space, but if this is where Yugi is dueling then...."  
Inside the Shadow Space, Yami placed one card face-down to end his turn. As soon as he ended his turn, the Dark magician girl appeared on the opponent's field.   
"You have no monster to shield you with," The voice said with a cruel laugh. "And my monsters possess more than enough fire power to beat you down in this turn."  
"That may be what you think," Yami declared.  
"Don't try to fool my with a bluff," The other person snapped. "I know very well you have ways to manipulate an opponent into believing in your fake traps. That's a bluff and everyone knows it. Now prepare to say good-bye!"  
"Red-Moon, Gazell, attack!"  
The two rushed forward and slashed at Yami who stumbled backwards as his life points fell down to 200.  
"See? No trap! Dark Magician Girl, finish him off!"  
"I activate my set card!" Yami cried opening up the card. "Magical Cylinders!"  
"What?"  
"It negates one opponent's monster's attack and does damage to the opponent's life points equal to the attack force of the monster!" Yami declared. "Which means you lose 2000 life points!"  
"No!" The voice cried as his life points dropped. "You saved your trap for my strongest monster. That way, you tricked me into a false confidence!"  
Yami chuckled.  
"Yes," Yami said. "And now that your turn is over, allow me to deal you the final blow."  
"Final blow?" he cried. "What do you mean?"  
"I mean this!" Yami cried pulling up a card. "Fist, I summon The Rock Spirit (1700/1200) in attack mode by taking Celtic Guardian out of play. Then I play, Brain Control!"  
"You want the Dark Magician Girl?"  
"No, I want Red-Moon Baby!" Yami declared and instantly, the zombie rushed over to his side of the field.   
"But why?"  
"Because I want to sacrifice it for my Dark Magician!" Yami cried and used it and The Rock Spirit as tributes for his mighty Dark Magician.  
"But that still won't take down my life points," The voice protested.   
"We'll see," Yami chuckled playing another card. "Attack the Dark Magician Girl!" he cried, as much as he hated to destroy one of his favorites.  
Dark Magician Girl was destroyed, putting the mysterious person's life points down at 1500.  
"My turn!" he cried and set a monster in defense mode. "Now I'll play, tribute to the doomed on your Magician!"  
"Not so fast," Yami said flipping over his trap card. "Fairy's Hand Mirror will flip the effect you set on my magician to your own monster!"  
"No!" he cried as his defense, The Portrait's Secret (1200/1500) was destroyed.  
"Gazell, defend!" he cried. "I end my turn."  
"Good, now watch this!" Yami cried playing a card. "Monster reborn! Revive the Dark Magician Girl!"  
"This is bad," The voice thought. "Yugi will wipe me out for sure in the next turn. I don't even have a bluff card to trick him with."  
Suddenly, a bright yellow glow came from the other end of the alley and the Shadow Space disappeared.  
"What?" Yami cried looking around for his opponent, but he wasn't there.  
"He left," Yugi said. "He probably realized you were going to win, and canceled the Shadow Game. Coward."  
"Yes," Yami said, then turned around.  
Kaiba and Mokuba were standing there.  
"Did you win your duel?" Mokuba asked excitedly.  
"I...yes, I did," Yami said truthfully, as the other player had just about forfeited. "Why are you here?"  
"Your opponent," Kaiba said pointing to the screen. "His duel disk wasn't recognized and his deck won't show up either. We figured it might be something...." He stopped.  
"Never mind, you won anyway so it doesn't matter," Kaiba said turning away. "Come on Mokuba, it's late."  
"Okay, Seto!" Mokuba said running to catch up with his brother. "Bye Yugi!"  
Yami stared after the two for a second.  
"You know Yami," Yugi said appearing beside him. "I think Kaiba was actually worried about us."  
Yami chuckled.  
"Really? I'd never have guessed that he'd worry about us," Yami said letting Yugi take over. "Come on! We're already late for the party!"  
"Um!" Yugi agreed.  
Chapter 5: Conclusions  
Back at Mai's party, Serenity looked out the window and saw Yugi running up the apartment steps to Mai's.  
"It's Yugi!" she cried and Joey opened the front door.  
"Where've you been, buddy?" Joey asked as a tired Yugi walked inside and collapsed on the couch.  
"You know, dueling odd people in dark alley's," Yugi tried to joke, even though it was true.  
"Ha ha," Mai said nudging Yugi playfully. "I know you probably just got lost."  
"Yeah," Yugi muttered looking around.   
Tea and Serenity were talking again and picking through the stack of CD's they'd brought. Joey and Duke were washing the punch bowl and Triston was eyeing Serenity. Wait....  
"Where's Bakura?" Yugi asked.  
Mai shrugged.  
"Probably got lost like you did," Mai said. "I'm sure he'll be here, some time."  
"Yeah...." Yugi said vaguely.   
Was it just coincidence that Bakura wasn't there? But that couldn't be, he didn't even have the Millennium Ring anymore...  
"Yugi come on!" Tea said grabbing his hands and the music started up. "Let's dance!"  
Putting his worries behind him, Yugi took Tea's other hand and stood up.  
"Sure!" he said happily.  
At the same time, Bakura woke up to find himself at home in his room. He was sprawled out on the bed, but had no recollection of what happened in the last hour.  
"What was I doing?" he asked himself looking around the room.   
Everything looked just as it had before, except for some Duel Monster cards that had fallen out of his pocket. He picked them up and looked at them.  
"Odd," he said leafing through them. "I don't use any of these cards. Oh well."  
He set the deck down on his desk and gasped at the clock.   
"7:34?!" He cried. "I'm late for Mai's party!"  
He turned on his heel, grabbed his sweater, and sped out of his room.  
Back in his bedroom, however, the top card of the deck he had placed on his desk was the Red-Moon Baby. 


End file.
